Don Kennedy, star of the long-running WSB-TV children’s show “Officer Don and The Popeye Club,” has died at 93. Kennedy died from complications of dementia following a stroke in 2015, his daughter, Rebecca Maple, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “Officer Don and The Popeye Club” aired live weekly for an hour starting in 1956.
Kennedy served as the host of the hit show for 13 years. After serving in the military, Kennedy was a staff announcer and news anchor at WSB-TV before taking on the role of “Officer Don.” “The Popeye Club” show featured Popeye cartoons interspersed with live bits.
It became one of the most popular local kids’ shows in the nation, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Live audience appearances for children in the taping of the shows were so popular, they had to be reserved a year in advance.
He was inducted into the Georgia Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame, Silver Circle Award and Georgia Radio Hall of Fame.
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